This is my depressed Naruto Fanfic based off of a naruto pic I found of Sakura, I would put up the pic but I don't know how.

Here we are!

Redone chapter 1, tell me if you can read Dx

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The cold rain fell onto their bodies, one looking down at their best friend as they lay still on the ground. The water ran the red liquid down from the grasses and began to filter it to the river that wasn't too far off. The friend of the victim glanced up with teary eyes, blood on the living one's hands and splattered with dots over their clothing and faces. The man grinned down, his job was done. He vanished without a trace with the shimmer of his metal symbol of representation of his village in a strike of lighting. The victim could never look up again, never be able to protect what they thought was dear to them. The only survivor ripped the kunai out of her friend, her shocked eyes not going away from the blood that dripped down. She raised it higher and higher into the rain as the drops started to go down her own arm. Everything seemed to go black; the mind cleaned of any thought what so ever.

0

News spread quickly through the Village Hidden in the Leaves, a murder to a student from Konoha. Everyone was on edge, how could someone actually try to kill a simple student from a village that didn't mean harm onto others? Two rookies, Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki, leapt to their feet to go to the summons of all students in Konoha. The Hokage wanted to make sure there were no other victims of this horrible fate and also wanted to inform the students of who suffered from the horrific act. They all went to his office and went inside, there weren't many students in such a small village, and lined up according to year. First years took front row and it went back according to your year of study. The Hokage examined every last one of them, there were two missing in the row of first years. He sighed, one was the victim while the other was just missing. Naruto leaned forward a bit to look at the line to find Shikamaru a little nervous with Ino missing. There was another also missing; Sakura wasn't in her usual spot next to Sasuke when they stood together. He stood back up in place and started to whisper to the silent boy. "Where is Sakura?" There was no answer, Sasuke had not heard from her sense she left to her house last night. He was also getting a bit worried, what if Sakura was the dead student?

The Hokage took his place in front of everyone and took in a deep breath, ready to give out the grave news. "As you all well know, there has been a murder within the boundaries of our village. You would probably also know that it was a student who is not with us here today. News does spread quickly." Everyone looked around again; the only empty spaces were the two front row rookie spots. "Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, Shikamaru Nara and Choji Yoshikawa... could you please stay here? The rest are dismissed."

The rest of the room emptied while the chosen few stayed behind. Also inside of the room were Kakashi Hatake and Asuma Sarutobi. The four were still and shaking in the boots at what would be wrong with the missing girls. One of then must have been the victim... but the other... the other was a total mystery to them. The Hokage took a seat at his desk while the two teachers went to either side of the desk and stood at attention to the students. "Umm..." Naruto started. The other students turned their heads to him as he started. "I know this is tough for all of us, but the waiting isn't doing us any good either. Just tell us... where is Sakura?"

"And Ino." Choji while shifting the weight from one foot to the other in waiting. "Where are they? Who was the one that was killed and where is the other one?"

The old wise man nodded at their questions and began to answer. "Yes, I would like to know the same thing myself. We do have the body of one of your friends... but the other girl is still missing." He glanced at the eager faces; they needed to know before their hearts burst out of their chests with anticipation. "I'm sorry... but the victim is no other then Ino Yamanaka." Naruto and Sasuke loosened up a bit but also felt the urge of loss and regret fill within.

Choji stood in total and utter shock while Shikamaru took a step forward. If this was a joke, it was a really sick one and pissing him off. "That's impossible! Ino could never be killed off like that; she's not like that at all! Ino would have fought back with all she had and never fallen to a damn murderer!"

"But she did fall, and from the looks of it she did fight back." Asuma told them. Naruto turned over to them while still in total shock. Choji started to sniffle while tears were building up from the news. Shikamaru still didn't want to believe a word that was being said, he kept on his yelling rampage that she must have still been alive. "That is enough Shikamaru!" His teacher yelled out. The boy finally stopped, Choji kept letting some tears slide down his face, Sasuke couldn't look anyone in the eye and Naruto thought this was all a nightmare that he would soon wake up from. "Ino is gone; she probably was protecting Sakura in her final moments."

Finally, Sasuke was able to speak, whenever he heard the girl's name he felt like it was his fault for ignoring her all of this time. "Where IS Sakura?"

"We don't know, that is why I wanted you here as well." The Hokage spoke with solace and anguish. Shikamaru went to comfort his friend while he kept spurting small amounts of tears here and there. He didn't want to look weak but his feelings for a fallen friend were too strong to hold back. Attention went back to the leader of the village when he spoke up again to continue. "I wanted you here to give that special assignment. Kakashi has brought to my attention that, if Sakura is still alive, she would be able to tell us who the killer was. If we know who it is then we will be able to send elite ninjas in to capture him and make sure that no one else is injured. Also, we will be able to figure out why someone would go after a simple Genin."

Naruto and Sasuke both nodded, it came to agreement that they would find and comfort their lost friend. Before leaving and getting ready to go on with their lives, Kakashi took a step forward and stared at both with the last bit of information. "We will only have one week to look for her. If we still cannot find Sakura then we will have to take on a different mission and hope that someone else finds her."

"What?!" Naruto yelled out. That wasn't one bit fair; they could never leave a member of the team like that. Sure the role of a ninja was to follow the mission and to make sure that it was done within the time limit but to leave a friend behind was just... unthinkable.

Sasuke nodded in agreement to the conditions of finding their partner. He would make sure that within the next week Sakura would be back in the comfort of her party and of her hometown. Not only that, Sasuke wanted to make sure that she was alright. Maybe it was her annoying pestering and bossing Naruto around, it could even be the thought that she was obsessed with him and did everything just to attract his attention. Whatever it was, Sasuke missed it and needed that odd feeling back with the rest of the unusual troupe. "Give us a while, then we'll be ready to head out." He informed the adults in charge.

Kakashi and the Hokage both agreed and the two boys left. The other team took this as their cue to also leave and think out everything that just took place within the last five to ten minutes inside of the Hokage's office.

0

Shikamaru lead Choji back home to the comfort of his family. The boy truly did miss Ino and the funeral didn't even start yet. After leaving the crying boy with his parents, Shikamaru wondered off through the town. He didn't know what to think about, his mind was full of strange thoughts yet totally empty of any idea on what to do next. The empty thoughts led him to the forest that hid their little village, he kept wondering until he almost tripped over a root. Before falling onto his own face, he regained his balance and shifted his gaze to the tree that tried to knock him down. There were many cuts and indents on the tree, ones caused by practicing shuriken throwing.

He went right up to the tree and let his hand glide over the grooves; this was where they trained while waiting for their teacher or one another. He remembered when Choji was late and so was their teacher, here stood Shikamaru and Ino and both were throwing the shuriken at the tree. They were trying to knock each other's out of the bark. Shikamaru tossed one and made it in, Ino tried her best to knock his out but her three tries all ended up in hitting around it. Shikamaru closed his eyes and went back to the memory.

(flashback)

"You have to aim for the center of the shuriken and then throw, not try to knock it out by one of the points." Shikamaru lay on the ground and said without feeling as Ino started to get into a hissy fit. He was on his side and facing the tree but his eyes were closed. He heard her footsteps go to the three and then the sound of the metal being ripped out of the tree. Only three, she was going to try again. Shikamaru just sighed and rolled to his back as she tried again. Again all three missed their mark and didn't knock his out. She screamed out once more while he just repeated what he said before. Again the sound of her going and taking the metal stars out of the trunk. This time the clash of wood and metal didn't follow. Shikamaru opened his eyes to find Ino hovering over him. "What?"

She lowered her hand with one shuriken lying on her palm. "If it's so easy why don't YOU show me how it's done?" Ino ordered.

He sighed and sat up, rubbing the back of his head while yawning. "How annoying..." Shikamaru got to his feet and took the star, then glared at the one he threw in almost half an hour ago. Shikamaru lowered himself a bit and held the weapon at ready, then tossed it in one fluid stroke. He knocked the old star out and his new one stayed stuck in the tree. Ino screamed out a 'what!' while Shikamaru just turned around with his hands behind his head. He couldn't help but grin at his success. "I told you, aim for the center and you'll knock it out."

Ino ran right up next to him and did the exact same thing that he did. Holding a star in her hand and lowering herself a bit in order to get the best aim. Ino also took his words of advice and aimed for the center. Shikamaru let his hands drop as he watched her, this determination is what always made him start going red when they trained. Shikamaru turned his face away before his heart could start racing any more. He heard the sound of the star going into the tree with a cursing session right behind it. All he did was sigh, she would never get it with that temper of hers. Shikamaru turned to her and crossed his arms. "Do you want some help?"

"No way! I got this!" Ino lowered herself and aimed the last shuriken at the point of needed contact. Shikamaru came up behind her and took her arms, making Ino stand up and start to blush. "What are you-"

"You have to be looser and more free, don't strain too much on wanting to hit the target." He said behind her. Ino listened and loosened up as told, letting Shikamaru take over her arms a bit. Both knelt down a bit and both took aim to the star on the tree. "When you think you got it just throw it and you'll hit the mark. Aim for the center of the shuriken." She listened and focused just like instructed. Shikamaru slowly let go and took a step back, Ino threw the star. It didn't exactly knock it out of the tree. The two shurikens got stuck together inside of the bark of the tree.

Shikamaru scoffed a bit while Ino laughed and pointed. "I was so CLOSE! I would have SO knocked yours out but you must have thrown it in too hard!"

"Yeah right." He put his hands behind his head again as Choji and their instructor came over to start the training. "It's just... you throw like a girl."

(flashback end)

He rested his hand onto the scar left from their shurikens being stuck inside of the tree. Shikamaru examined every last cut and scrape on the tree, these were some of the best memories that he had of Ino and now she was gone from his life forever. All he did was take four shurikens out of his pocket. He shoved one into the tree and took some spaces back. Shikamaru faced the tree again and tossed one of the stars. It knocked the original out. He tossed the second, same result. Shikamaru then bent down a bit for the third and threw it, it didn't knock the one in the tree out. The two were again stuck together on the trunk. Shikamaru just stood up right and sighed, this one move made up his mind. He knew where to go next. Shikamaru started a sprint to the Ramen House to make sure and catch up with Naruto and Sasuke before they left.

0

Naruto was sitting at the counter of the Ramen House and waited for his order to come up. Sasuke was resting his head on the palms of his hands as the were held up with his elbows resting in the table. Naruto took a quick glance over to Sasuke and noticed the boy was very quiet. Not only that but he never agreed to go with Naruto to the Ramen House before an important mission like this. Naruto leaned on the counter a bit and took his entire attention to Sasuke. "Hey, what's wrong?"

The other boy just shifted his glance a bit to Naruto. He no later found that the counter was more interesting. "Nothing, I'm just thinking about the mission that's all."

"Uh huh." Naruto joked. Sasuke was starting to get ticked off from this. "You're worried about Sakura aren't you?" He asked. Sasuke was about to complain with objection but Naruto just sat with his elbows on the table as well and his head resting on his hands. "I'm worried about her too. Sakura isn't one to take death easily. I mean, she's the one that was with Ino when she died! That's gotta be horrible."

Sasuke nodded at Naruto's remarks and actually joined into the conversation. "Yeah, Sakura would never go and do anything rash. I'm amazed that she didn't come back right after it all happened." Sasuke started to think of just what could have happened last night. It was pouring so any footsteps or traces of the killer were washed away. Any fingerprints from any blood was washed away as well into the river. It would be almost impossible to find the killer, so if he struck again no one would know. What if the killer now was going after Sakura and she was fleeing from him. Sasuke started to shake a bit with the fear of her in danger. "We'll find Sakura within this next week, I just know it."

"Oh yeah! Now we're talking!" Naruto yelled out. Sasuke thought he was talking about some encouragement with the assignment, he then noticed that two bowls of ramen were placed in front of them with the chopsticks. "This is the best stuff in the WORLD!" He wasted no time diving into the meal and chomping away.

Sasuke sighed a bit and started to pick at his food. He was too worried about Sakura to really have an appetite to any such foods. He stared down at his soggy noodles and remembered the last time he was inside of the Ramen House. Naruto had dragged him and Sakura along to celebrate the completion of yet another mission. Naruto left for a bit to get a refill on his bowl of ramen while Sakura ate peacefully and Sasuke again was picking. She asked what was wrong and he gave his normal cold response. Sakura actually stopped eating and tried to find out what was wrong with him. Sasuke sighed and placed down his chopsticks, he couldn't eat while remembering how much Sakura looked out for him.

He sat back in his high chair and closed his eyes. "You know, Sakura-"

"Naruto!" Shikamaru yelled out while he ran inside. When the boy stopped, he was out of breath and leaning on the counter to catch up with himself again. Both of the rookies stared at him while he tried to breath right again. Once Shikamaru was able to stand on his own, he took the free seat next to the blonde ninja and rested his lazy head on the table. "Take me with you to find Sakura."

"What?!" Naruto yelled out with a full mouth of noodles. He quickly swallowed it and then asked again. "What do you mean 'take you with us'?! You're from a different team! Why would you want to come with us?!"

Sasuke just crossed his arms and grinned. "Yes, this isn't like you at all Shikamaru."
"I just-" He would never be able to tell anyone how he felt. He couldn't even tell the girl that he liked how he felt, now she would never ever know. Shikamaru sat back in his chair and crossed his arms while closing his eyes. "Why do I have to tell you anyway? I'm just trying to lend a helping hand that's all. It would be better with a full team then part of one anyway."

Naruto stared at Shikamaru. He no later turned to Sasuke to find him silent as well. He kept going back and forth between the two silent boys and finally gave into the pressure. "Fine! You can come along! This is REALLY starting to freak me out guys!"

He gave a small smile that was mixed in with a grin. Sasuke smirked as well while looking over at Shikamaru. The new member just scoffed and left the Ramen House without much haste at all. He now headed off to Kakashi to tell him that the other two invited him into the mission and he intended to follow along in the search and rescue of Sakura.